Elder Ballard told the December 2007 graduates of BYU-Hawaii to use new media to spread the gospel, and the exhortation was repeated to all church members in a cover story in the July 2008 Ensign. Among other things, members were encouraged to “create videos that illustrate aspects of your membership in the Church and post them on video sharing sites like YouTube.” I’ve taken it upon myself to compile a preliminary progress report for Elder Ballard. Humbly submitted: more good, bad, and ugly of Mormons on Youtube. (This is the fourth in a series. Previous: [1] [2], and [3] was published just yesterday)
Genre: Elders Violence
- If I were a musical sommelier, asked to pair a song with a video of full-time missionaries, I don’t think Rage Against the Machine would be the first thing to spring to mind. But these guys sure do make it work. Kudos to these future UFC stars.
- A first-person shooter Trekkie Bond film about killing Canadians. Talk about a winning concept!! (sorry, Steve Evans)
- Elder-v-Member arm wrestling.
- Working through some intra-companionship tension with boxing or WWF, how else?
Genre: Elders frankly just losing it
Not that I blame them. It’s a stressful job! Their sanity loss is our entertainment gain. Behold:
Genre: Elders Singing
This category has made earlier appearances in MYTPR. Missionaries are quite a prolific bunch.
- Missionaries singing Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. Do they know this is from a sacrilegious R-rated film? Doesn’t matter. It’s completely delightful.
- Missionaries with very discerning musical taste perform A-Ha’s Take On Me, accompanied by ukulele. (aside: has everyone seen Take on Me (literal version)? A must-see.)
Genre: Especially for You
- Especially for anyone who has ever wondered what a John Bytheway talk is like.
- Especially for Bookslinger, literal book-slinging!
- Especially for the Korean language speakers in our audience, a skit. (Please post a synopsis in the comments.)
Genre: Documenting Mormon Life
- Perhaps there is something to be said for embracing the cultural hall as a wedding reception venue, and all that entails, with both arms. Such is the nature of these nuptials.
- This family eagerly awaits the return of their Elder at the airport. They are wearing matching outfits, right down to the bows in the girls’ hair. Speechless.
Genre: Grand Prize
This is the most genuinely sweet kid you’ve seen all day, or your money back. Embedded in this clip is a meta-commentary on what makes the clip itself a rare gem. Sincere, earnest love of the gospel may not be quite as well-suited to the medium of youtube as missionary FAIL.
By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog 
I haven’t been a missionary in a while, but isn’t it officially against the rules to fight your companion?
Probably. A previous MYTPR featured Elders driving a Ferrari, which I’m assuming is also against mission rules. So an activity being against the mission rules doesn’t exactly mean there won’t be youtubes depicting it.
Of course, I just thought it made it extra stupid to record (not to mention publish) it.
I am wondering if we won’t very soon have a new (totally unenforceable) mission rule that you can’t record/post this stuff. Even the very benign basically shows missionaries not doing missionary work. It shows them being goofy with downtime. It just seems like bad PR. Are there any youtubes of JWs lip-synching? Any Baptist missionaries staging fights?
> Are there any youtubes of JWs lip-synching? Any Baptist missionaries staging fights?
I don’t know, but I would LOVE to see those videos if they do exist, LOL!
I agree with you about the significant possible downsides to the amount of stuff from missionaries that is out there on the internet, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there is a major crackdown at some point. But at the same time, it would be sad for amateur anthropologists like me. (see related discussion of missionary blogs at T&S)
That missionary’s testimony is just about the best thing I’ve ever seen on YouTube. He just so obviously believes in it. It’s not grandstanding or self-righteous at all.
Elder, You are an Excellent Missionary!
I know, I just love that guy. What a pure heart.
Being goofy on down-time is not such bad thing, as long as mission rules are still obeyed. If anything, it shows that Mormon missionaries are still just real people. That’s what attracts a lot of young people to the elders and their message anyway.
By the way, the vid of the elder bearing testimony looks like it was shot in an office setting, not an apartment, likely the mission office. He does show good confidence.
Cynthia: thanks for the shout-out.
I’m surprised this video didn’t make the cut.
WOW!! B-Face did you make that? I fetching love it!
Seminary Teachers of the world, unite! Unite in showing that to your students!!
my fave mormon missionary video ever. love the music. careful, though, there’s a swear word at the beginning.
Awesome, Reuben. You should check out the previous Mormon YouTube Progress Reports, there’s a bunch of missionary FAIL videos like yours–though yours is missionary WIN :)
I am looking for an edectrionic Missionary Progress Record.
My e-mail is fgmitchell@comcast.net